A things which were done after the return, we attached to that prior work, at the request of excellent men, so that the work might not remain mutilated and incomplete, consisting solely in the narration of calamities; rather, since those things which had been predicted by God appeared to be reaching their fulfillment in that same subject-matter, [we decided] to set forth also their better fortune. Thus, with the overthrow of the tyranny already meditated and begun, the discourse progressed together with the facts themselves. It is, however, worth the labor to admire this to a greater degree in it: that the treatment was able to suffice for such diverse propositions. For almost infinite dogmas, defined by no one up to this day, have found in this fable a place for consideration, and individual matters have been accurately discussed; then, kinds of lives are described in it, which can be examples of vice and virtue; and the history of present events—a variety of matters—is contained in this work, B and the fable is elaborated throughout, being diversified for the sake of utility.
THE EGYPTIAN, OR CONCERNING PROVIDENCE. BOOK FIRST.
1. This fable is Egyptian. Moreover, the Egyptians excel in wisdom. Therefore, although it is a fable, since it has come forth from the Egyptians, yet the fable will signify something greater and more profound. But if it is not indeed a fable, but rather a sacred discourse, it would be all the more worthy to be mentioned and written down.
Osiris and Typhos were formerly brothers, and born from the same sowing; but the kinship of their souls and bodies is not the same. For it is not from the same parents on earth that the soul derives its origin, but its consistency with the nature of the universe—which nature has constituted as twofold—is to be derived from the same source: for one is luminous and most radiant, the other is dark and obscured by shadows. The latter springs forth and bursts from the soil, as if C held down by certain roots from below, and it emerges from earthly lairs if it might in any way offer violence to the divine law. The former hangs from the shoulders of heaven; for from there it is sent down to adorn this earthly lot, yet it is commanded, as it descends, to be cautious lest, in that which it adorns and (4)
A in which it settles, it be filled with shame and disorder. B There stands the law of Themis, ordaining for souls that whoever, having communed with the furthest extremities of existences, preserves its nature and remains undefiled, is to return by this same way, and to be poured back into its own proper fountain; just as those who set out from the other portion are, by a necessity of nature, compelled to glide into their kindred retreats. Just as the one who, in a certain manner, requires the necessity of nature to receive those who have come from another lot, A “There Envy, and Wrath, and a crowd of other Evils Wander in the darkness of the meadow of Ate.”
B 2. Such are the nobilities and ignobilities of souls; and it could come to pass that a man of Libya and a Parthian are kindred in this way, and likewise that those whom we call brothers have no fellowship in the kinship of their souls, as was indicated in the two Egyptian boys immediately from their birth, and was brilliantly demonstrated when they reached maturity. For the younger one, born and nurtured by divine lot, was from infancy a lover of listening and a lover of myth (for myth is the philosophy of children); and, making progress, he was ever extending his training beyond the time allotted, lending his ears to his father, and whatever each person knew—that which was wise—he would search out regarding everything, at first demanding to know all things in the mass, just as nature does, which, for those who promise great things, surges and anticipates the proper time, already guaranteeing for themselves the desired end. C Then, long before puberty, he was much more composed than those of a well-born old man, and he listened with orderliness. Yet when it became necessary for him also to speak, or to inquire about what he had heard, or on any other matter, everyone could recognize him by his hesitation and his blushing. He would even give way on the road and in his seat to the elders of the Egyptians, and this though he was the son of the one who held the great rule. There was present in him also a reverence for his peers, and in his nature, above all else, a care for men; so that, while he was of that age, it was a hard task to find a man in Egypt who had not received some benefit from the youth through his father. But the elder one, Typho, was, in a word, awkward in everything. D As for all the wisdom—both that which was Egyptian and that which foreign masters taught—which the king had set before his son Osiris, he had loathed it with his whole mind, and he ridiculed the matter as idle and enslaving to the mind. Seeing his brother moving in order and living in harmony, he thought this was cowardice—wherefore no one ever saw him engaging in boxing, or jumping, or running in an disorderly fashion, even though he was light and agile, and the body he wore was a light burden for the soul. But neither did Osiris ever yawn, nor did he break into a laugh, A such as characterize uncontrolled and gaping laughter.
A Typhon, on the other hand, thought these things were the only works of free men: to do whatever one happened to wish, and he did not even respect his own nature, nor that of any human being at all, and in a word, he was not even like himself, but was a manifold evil. Now he would seem to be sluggish and a useless burden upon the earth, waking from sleep only as much as was sufficient to fill his belly and to provide himself again with the provisions for slumber; but now, neglecting even the moderate things necessary to his nature, he would dance in unseemly fashion, and cause trouble to his equals and to those older than himself. For he admired strength of body as if it were the most perfect of all goods, and he used it wrongly, breaking down doors, throwing clods of earth, and if he caused any wound or other evil, he would rejoice as if it were a testimony to his virtue, and he was turbulent out of season and most violent in the satisfying of his lusts. And indeed, envy of his brother smoldered within him, and hatred toward the Egyptians, because the common people admired Osiris in their speeches and songs, and in their homes and at common shrines they prayed that all good things might be his from the gods; but he himself was, and appeared to be, such a person as he was. Therefore, Typhon gathered together a band of foolish boys, but for no other purpose—for he was not one to love anyone from his heart—but so that there might be some to be his partisans, not thinking as Osiris did. And it was easy for anyone to earn the favor of Typhon and to obtain from him anything that boys might need, if only one whispered some slanders against Osiris. Thus, from childhood, the difference in their nature promised also a difference in their lives.
3. But just as the first branching of a road, B by diverging a little, proceeds to make an ever greater interval, and at the end they arrive at a point of greatest opposition: so it happens with children, that even the smallest disparity in their studies separates those who proceed far from one another. But they did not turn to opposite studies gradually, but suddenly, each having attained entirely either virtue or vice, as if by some lot. Therefore, as they grew, the opposition of their characters grew C along with them.
DIONYSII PETAVII NOTAE
...is lewd; but if regarding men, it is a scoffing; this is a laughter that is conspiratorial and insulting. For I very much approve of that person smiling at the faces of others, who appeared to be smiling with a grim face, instead of "with grim faces." For I very much approve of that person who appeared to be smiling with a grim face, instead of "smiling at the faces with grim faces." D I consider these words to be an interpretation of a Homeric hemistich, wrongly received into the text from the margin.
A Furthermore, the differences between their souls grew with their age, a fact which they demonstrated B by clearer proofs in their own actual deeds. Osiris, indeed, as soon as he had passed the age of puberty, acted as a colleague in military command with those who had been appointed as leaders—though no law yet permitted one so young to bear arms—but he governed by his own counsel and judgment, being already as it were a mind, and using the army commanders as his hands. Then, as his nature grew like a plant, he produced day by day more mature fruits; having been made commander of the praetorian soldiers and the king's secretary, and having attained the prefecture of the City and the primacy of the Senate, he rendered the magistracy far more noble than it was when he received it.
The other, having been appointed treasurer of the funds (for it had seemed proper to the parent of nature to test his children in minor matters), brought disgrace and stain both upon himself and upon the one who had chosen him, being convicted of embezzling public money, of bribery, and of folly in the administration of the treasury. Then, being transferred to another magistracy, to see if perhaps he might be fit to undertake it, he behaved much more basely, and that part of the most happy kingdom over which Typho had been placed held that whole year to be ill-omened and unlucky. But as soon as he had turned himself to others, calamity and ruin immediately passed onto them. Such was the spirit of Typho in governing men.
Privately, indeed, he used to dance awkwardly and lasciviously, and with him were all the most petulant of the Egyptians or foreigners, whom he gathered with him, men who had no qualms about saying, hearing, suffering, or perpetrating anything; so that their dining room was a workshop of every kind of immodesty. Furthermore, he was snoring even while awake, and he would most gladly listen to others snoring, thinking that kind of music to be something admirable; indeed, he would even praise and bestow rewards upon the one who could prolong this petulant sound the longest and bring it forth more roundly and intricately. C And among them, one or two, who were the most brazen of all, had cast off all shame, and declining no kind of baseness, they carried off many rewards for their audacity, such that, as a wage for their base license, they obtained magistracies and commands. Such, therefore, was Typho at home.
D 4. But after he had seated himself in the style of those who transact public affairs, he clearly showed that wickedness is manifold. For it dissents equally from virtue and from itself, and its parts are at variance with one another. For that arrogant man, inflated by his own opinion, would suddenly be driven into a fury, and, barking more fiercely than an Epirot dog, he would inflict injury—now upon a private individual, now upon a family, now upon an entire city; and he exulted all the more, the more grievous the damage and calamity he had inflicted, as if he could wash away the disgrace gathered from domestic sloth with the tears of men. Yet this one advantage resulted from these evils: for often, when he was about to create danger for someone, he would be impetuously swept away and driven off-course by absurd and unheard-of suspicions, so that he was
A for a time quite beside himself, as if his mind had been snatched away. Afterwards, when he had collected himself, his memory of what had recently occurred seemed to have slipped away; yet he would squabble with his stewards about how many grains of wheat a medimnus contains or how many cyathi are in a chous, showing off a certain superfluous and troublesome sort of mental agility. B And at times, sleep, coming upon him most opportunely, would snatch the man away from imminent destruction; for, overtaken by it, he would have been hurled headlong from his chair had not an attendant dropped a light and caught him. Thus it happened that many a tragic night-watch more often than not ended in comedy. For he would not even hold court during the day, being by nature an enemy of the sun and light, and more suited to the darkness. And though he knew clearly that everyone who possessed even a modicum of wisdom judged him to be of the most extreme ignorance, he did not blame his own stupidity; rather, he professed a hatred common to all wise men, as if he were receiving an injury from them because they were able to judge him: a man who was utterly lacking in counsel yet most skilled in plotting. Madness and fury were combined in him; two plagues of the soul, mutually reinforcing one another: than which no evils are greater, nor more prone to the destruction of the human race, nor will they ever exist in such a state.
5. Every one of these things the father saw and understood, and he provided for the benefit of the Egyptians. For he was king, C and priest, and wise; and the Egyptian accounts say that he was also a god. For the Egyptians [(10)] do not disbelieve that ten thousand gods ruled over them one after another before the land was ruled by men, and that the kings were reckoned by genealogy, Piromis from Piromis. When, therefore, he was removed by divine laws to the company of the greater gods, and the appointed day arrived, there had assembled for it from all the cities of Egypt—as had long since been proclaimed by herald—all the families of the priests [(11)], and the native military order, all of whom the necessity of the law invited. As for the rest of the common people, just as it was free for them to be absent, so the opportunity to attend was granted to all, not that they might be electors in the creation of a king, but that they might be spectators; yet swineherds were forbidden the spectacle, as were the soldiers D who were themselves foreigners or born of foreigners serving as mercenaries among the Egyptians. And for this reason, the oldest of the sons suffered by far the greatest disadvantage. For the swineherds were both foreigners and the frantic and vulgar mob of the Typhonian military, but they accepted it by custom, and were not even provoked, nor did they count it a disgrace, but rather deemed it fitting, since it was by law.
B
6. There is a sacred mountain near the great city of Thebes, and another mountain opposite, with the stream of the Nile between them. Of these mountains, the one opposite is called Libyan, and it is ordained that candidates for the kingdom remain there for the whole time of preparation, so that they may perceive nothing of the election; the other, however, which is also sacred, is called the Egyptian. On its summit is the king’s tabernacle, and next to him sit those of the priests who are commended for their superior wisdom above the rest, and thus the order proceeds to all who excel, with places distributed to each according to the dignity of their rites. These, as if around a heart, form a first circle around the king; and the soldiers form another circle outside of this. And these remain around the ridge, which exists as another mountain upon the extended mountain, rising like a nipple, rendering the king visible from a great distance even to those who stand far off. Those to whom it is permitted to be present at the spectacle occupy the foothills of this nipple. These merely acclaim what they perceive; but those in whom the authority of the election resides, once the king has performed the divine rites, and those whose duty this is have set the whole band in motion, as though the Divine were present and concerned with the affairs of the election, upon the name of one of the candidates for the kingdom being announced, the soldiers raise their hands; but the revelers, the temple-servants, and the prophets cast their votes. This is a smaller multitude, but it possesses much greater power; for a prophetic vote is equal to one hundred hands, a reveler’s vote to twenty, and the temple-servant’s vote to ten hands. There is another designation for the royal officials, and for them there are hands and a portion. And if the multitude is roughly equal, the king, by casting his own vote for one side, makes it much stronger; but by joining the lesser side, he makes it equal. Then, having dismissed the assembly, they flee to the gods, whom they further consult while applying themselves to a holier purity, until, appearing openly and without any veil or the signs they are accustomed to use, the gods themselves establish the king, and the people themselves, D upon the announcement of those who they wish to be gods...
NOTES OF DIONYSIUS PETAVIUS
(12) *Near the great city.* Which was so vast and celebrated in the times of Homer or the Trojans, Iliad. A: "Nor as much as flows to Orchomenus, nor as much as to Egyptian Thebes, where in the houses much wealth lies, where there are one hundred gates, and two hundred men go out through each with horses and chariots." And the priests practiced philosophy and astronomy, and were associates of the kings. (15) *Those who are wise in the great wisdom.* Namely, philosophy and the contemplation of heavenly things. Strabo, book xvii: See Clement of Alexandria, VI Stromata.A Let it hear. And these things, however matters may have turned out, now occur in one way, now in another. But in the balloting of Typhon and Osiris, all the gods showed themselves, and the priests, being secure and never anxious, stood suddenly to be seen, and having moderated individual matters piece by piece, they instructed each of their own priests; nor was it unknown to any for what causes they were present: although, even with them absent, every hand and every vote was awaiting the name of the younger of the two sons of the king. Truly, great things are signified among us by holier beginnings; and things that are to come about far otherwise than can be believed, whether better or worse, are indicated by certain portents from God.
7. Osiris, therefore, as was right, kept himself in the place to which he had been led, but the other, impatient of delay, was troubled, and was eager to know what was happening in the assembly; at length he could not restrain himself from making an attempt at that matter and corrupting the votes. B Therefore, regardless no less of himself than of the royal laws, headlong he leaped into the river, and being carried away and swimming, doing and suffering everything, he became a laughingstock to those watching as he reached the other side of the river; and indeed he supposed he was hidden, except from those he had come to and to whom he promised money, but everyone knew it, and they hated both him and his purpose. Yet no one thought the mad man should be refuted to his face, which indeed happened to him as a thing most miserable; for he himself being present, he himself hearing, was rejected by the votes of all, and was disapproved by the hands of all: the gods furthermore cursing him. And Osiris came when he had been sent for, having been anxious and worried about nothing regarding that matter, while the gods, the priests, and finally all, with sacred C crowns and sacred pipes, were hastening to the bank of the river to meet him, to which it was necessary for that ship to pull in from the Libyan coast upon which the new king was being placed. Already then great signs from heaven, and thence voices as messengers of happiness, and every kind of portent by which things that are to arise—whether small or greater matters—are grasped, were portending a fortunate empire for the Egyptians. Wherefore, the demons of a future worse condition were by no means of a quiet mind, nor appeared likely to endure this happiness of men placidly, but were about to set upon it and were seen to be swelling with rage; and some premonitions of treachery were apparent.
8. After the royal initiation had therefore been completed for him by the gods and by his father, they foretold to him clearly, as those who clearly knew, many other things, D and primarily a superabundant supply of good things; then they warned him that his brother was born for the destruction of the Egyptians and of his father's house; unless he wished to disturb everything, he must be removed out of the way, so that he might neither see nor hear the good fortune and abundance that pressed upon the Egyptians during the reign of Osiris. For no good thing is tolerable to the nature of Typhon. To these points they taught that the nature of souls is twofold, and that there is that necessary discord which the lower souls have innate with the superior ones. They prayed, therefore, that he would overturn a most hostile nature and cut it away from the better and divine kinship, nor should he be ashamed of that which men call kinship. But they spoke to him, as he was relaxing and giving way, of the things that it would be necessary for him, and for the Egyptians, and for those living nearby, and for all whom the Egyptians ruled, to endure; for even that which is petty is not a small evil,
A nor would common care be sufficient to ward off his manifest and secret attacks. For they claimed that there was present with him and directing him a powerful host of envious demons, with whom he was kin, and from whom he had been sent forth into existence, so that they might have an instrument to employ for the wickedness toward men, along the path on which they were walking, and they had given him birth, and reared him, and acted as midwives, and trained him in the ways appropriate to them—Typhon, who was to be a great benefit to them. They think that he still needs to have the power from the beginning added to him in all things, for thus they believed he would be perfect among the perfect, both willing and able to do great evils. "But they even loathe you," one of them said, "as a gain for men, but a loss for themselves; for the catastrophes of nations are a banquet for base demons." B Therefore, they often advised that the brother be turned away and banished to some place far from the land, knowing and seeing the naturally mild character of Osiris, by whom, at the end, they were told that he would endure for a time; but he would be seen to yield, and to betray himself and all men, having exchanged the greatest of calamities for the work of an honored name of brotherly love. "But," he said, "with you being favorable and helpful, I will neither dread my brother remaining, nor will I be flustered by the divine omen; for it is easy for you, if you wish, to even heal what has been done amiss."
9. Then the father, taking up the discourse, said, "You discern this wrongly, my son; for the divine part in the universe is occupied with other things, and for the most part exercises that faculty which is preeminent in it, and is sated by the contemplation of the intelligible beauty. C For there is there another race of gods, transcendent to the world, which indeed sustains all things unto the extremities of beings; but it itself cannot be turned or inclined toward matter and these lower things. Moreover, for those who are gods by nature, the contemplation of that being is a blessed sight; but the consideration of the source from which it arises is far more blessed for them. That being, therefore, by the very fact that it remains in itself, overflows with good things, because it is always full of itself; D and for those below, the good consists in being turned toward the God who is there. Yet there is not one single sort of good, nor is the activity of one kind, but also those who care for portions of the world [exercise] the activity in contemplation, insofar as it goes, bringing down [the influence] to that which is being governed. The pure part of them...
is assigned directly under that first substance; and they arrange those nearest to them, and the succession of ranks continues in order down to the lowest of beings; and everything participates through the intermediary [ranks] in the care of the first. Yet it is not shared equally, for then there would be no succession; but as beings descend, they become weaker, until they err and corrupt their order, in which [state] the things themselves cease to be. B Something similar occurs in these inferior realms. For that nature which is partaker of generation is wandering and inconstant, and it occupies the lowest seat in the corporeal condition, and is most subject to corruption; but the heaven occupies the highest place, and is incorruptible, corresponding in a certain proportion to the soul. Therefore, what those [higher beings] are there—indicating the gods—these demons are in these elements, which are constant in perpetual agitation, whose nature is reckless and precipitate, and which, being furthest from the departure from there, do not perceive the order of things divine. Since, therefore, the underlying condition of these beings is not sufficient for their own salvation—for it even flows away, and does not sustain its own being, but imitates it by becoming—and since the demons, being akin to the nature here below, have obtained a destructive substance, it is necessary C that the Divine should turn itself to these things, and initiate certain beginnings, by which these things here fare well for a time, insofar as the impulse suffices. And just as the puppets [(17)] are moved even when the person who gave the beginning of the motion to the machine has stopped, yet they are not moved infinitely; for they do not have the source of motion from within themselves, but [only] as long as the given power is strong and does not fade in its progression, departing from its own genesis; in the same way, my dear Osiris, hold this: that that which is rightly arranged among you is joined with the divine administration, and is not proper to this place, but has proceeded from elsewhere: and for this reason D souls themselves are rarely good, although they can sometimes be of such a kind, and even the administration and governance of the gods, when it performs that task, expresses the likeness of the governance of all things.
A Conceive in your mind the things I am about to say. Do not demand that the gods be perpetually present to you, whose primary duty is placed in contemplation and in the principal parts of the world; they are both in heaven and very distant from you; nor should you consider their descent to be effortless, achieved without trouble, or eternal. For fixed times bring them down, according to the example of mechanical engineers, who provide an initiative for healthy movement in government; this is what happens when they harmonize an empire, having brought down kindred souls here. For this providence is divine and magnificent: that through one man it should care for tens of thousands of people. Therefore, it is necessary for them to be occupied with their own affairs, but for you—trapped in a foreign land—to remember where you come from, and that you are fulfilling some ministry here in this world; and to try to raise yourself up, rather than to bring the gods down; and to have full providence over yourself, just as if you were living in a military camp in a B hostile territory—a divine soul among demons, who, being earth-born, understandably become aggressive and resentful if someone observes foreign laws within their borders. It is well for you, therefore, to be vigilant both night and day, having this one care: not to be soundly defeated by the many, a stranger by the natives. For there is here a sacred race of heroes, C careful of men, and able to provide help for small things, and a greater good—some sort of settlement of a hero, so that these places might not be left bereft of the better nature. And they stretch out a hand where they have the power. But when matter, declaring war on the soul, has stirred up its own offspring, whatever is opposed from this quarter, with the gods absent, becomes small and weak. For each thing is strong in its own domain. But they, for one thing, will wish to make things their own; and the undertaking is of such a kind. It is not possible to be on earth without having some share of an irrational soul. And the masses have been cast into this, but the wise man is attached to it; yet all must possess it. Through this, as through a kindred element, demons come upon the living creature, committing betrayal. D "These are demons, by the counsels of great Zeus, noble, earthly, guardians of mortal men, who watch over justice and cruel deeds, clothed in mist, moving everywhere upon the earth." But we will not believe Hesiod, when some of this kind die, that the demons are noble, earthly, holy, averters of evil, guardians of mortal men.
DION. PETAVIUS'S NOTES. (18) These are the most well-known verses of Hesiod; I would not transcribe them, unless something needed to be noted in them. Thus, therefore, Hesiod: [Greek text of Hesiod]. Plato mentions these verses in his *Republic*, where he seems to have read them otherwise than as they are commonly held. For he does so, and indeed in Plutarch's *De defectu oraculorum*, where the same verses are cited, this word *hagnoí* (holy) has a place in them. So that it appears the ancients read them thus at one time, etc.
A For what is happening is indeed like a siege. And just as coals suffer from brands—for they are kindled more quickly on account of their already existing fitness for fire—so the nature of the demon, being passionate, or rather being passions that are living and moving, when it approaches the soul, stirs the passion within it and draws the power into action, for it makes each thing act by proximity. Everything that suffers is made like to that which causes it to suffer. Thus, demons kindle desire, and anger, and whatever evils are kindred to these, by entering into the soul through the parts that are attentive to themselves, which naturally perceive their presence, and are moved, and receive strength from them, being goaded against the mind, until they gain mastery of the whole soul or despair of the choice. This is the greatest of contests; for there is no time, nor manner, nor place left unattempted in their assault, and they even attack from where one would least suspect; on all sides are traps, on all sides are engines of war, on all sides they stir up domestic wars, until they have captured or have abandoned hope. The gods are spectators from on high of these noble contests, of which you shall carry off the crown, as I would hope you may also of the later ones. But take care, lest although you have finished these successfully, you should be defeated in others and depart. For when the divine portion of the soul has neither yielded to the worse part, and has often checked it and turned it back towards itself, nature, in time, suffers it to be strengthened and to become more solid, so as to withstand all attacks, and, as if smeared and packed tight, to admit no further influxes of the demons. B Thus the living creature then becomes truly divine and one harmonious whole. And this is a heavenly plant on earth, which has not received a foreign graft, so as to bring forth fruits from that [graft], but has converted all that into its own nature. But when they have despaired of it, then finally they strive in the second contest, to cut it down completely and to root it out of the earth, as if it had nothing to do with them; for they are ashamed of the defeat if someone, being of another race, lives among their own types after having prevailed, being and appearing as a trophy of victory. For such a one does not cause them damage only in himself, but also draws others away from their dominion. For when virtue is emulated, it is necessary that the worse things perish. For these reasons they plot to remove both the private man and the ruler, everyone, whoever he may be, who is rebellious against the laws of matter. But here, since you are a king, you would more easily be on guard than a private man; for they attack from without, since they have not succeeded from within, by war and sedition and all that which harms the body, by which a king would least be captured, as he is careful of himself; for he is unconquerable when strength and wisdom are joined together. But when separated from one another, strength without knowledge, and wisdom without strength, become easily conquerable.
A 11. By all means, my son, cherish the insight of the fathers regarding the sacred images; for the Egyptians 21 represent Mercury in a double form, placing the young beside the old, and prescribing that if any of us is to properly inspect the sacred rites, he must be both sagacious and strong; for one without the other can provide little help. For the same reason, the image of the Sphinx is set up at the vestibules of the sacred temples, a sacred symbol of the union of both goods; insofar as it is a beast, it signifies the strength of the body, and insofar as it is a man, it signifies prudence. For strength stripped of a prudent command is carried about recklessly, confounding and disturbing all things; and the mind is useless for action, when not served by the hands; but virtue and fortune, though with difficulty, yet come together in great matters, just as they have met together in your case. Cease, therefore, to importune the gods, B since you are able, if you wish, to save yourself by your own resources. For it is not fitting that they should always depart from their own abodes, lingering among things strange and inferior; unless it were impious to use badly the impulses sown in us to be maintained for the keeping of things on earth in order and in accordance with the world that has been given; for this indeed forces those who are in charge to return again before the appointed times to take care of things here; but when the harmony, which they have harmonized, is slackened and grows old, they come again to tighten it, and as it were to revive it when it is breathing its last, and they see this with joy, fulfilling this certain service 23 to the nature of the cosmos; otherwise, they will come when it has been corrupted and broken through the vice of those who have taken it over, when it is in no way possible for things here to be saved otherwise. Is it therefore for trifling matters, or even when a mistake is made regarding this or that, that God is moved? Or is that One a great matter, through whom one of the blessed race will come here; no, but when the entire order and the great things are destroyed, then it is necessary for them to visit, to provide the beginning of a different arrangement. Let men not be annoyed therefore, having evils of their own choosing, nor let them blame these for not being present for them; for Providence also demands that they themselves introduce that which comes from them. For in the place 24 of evils, it is not wonderful that there are evils, but it is wonderful if there is anything that is not so here; for this is foreign and alien, and this is of Providence, through which it is permitted to us, not being downcast, but using what we have from it, to be entirely and in every way happy. For there is not...
A in the same way Providence [acting] as the mother of a newborn infant, who is occupied with the business of repelling all those things that fly toward it or are in any way troublesome, because it is still imperfect and destitute of its own resources; but it is like her who, when the child is already grown and equipped with arms, commands him to use them, and to ward off imminent evils. Meditate on these things with yourself assiduously, and be persuaded that these things are most worthy of being known by men; for in this way, they will both believe that there is a Providence, and they will look out for themselves, and they will be at once religious and solicitous; nor will they think that the care of God is at variance with the practice of virtue. Farewell; and if you are wise, restrain your brother, and ward off your own fate and that of the Egyptians, for this is permitted; but if you show yourself too relaxed and indulgent, think that the gods will be late in aiding you.
12. When he had said this, he departed to the gods. But he was left on earth, a thing by no means worthy of the earth: from which he strove with the greatest zeal to ward off evils continually, not using force or command, but offering B sacrifices to Persuasion, and, of course, to the Muses and the Graces, readily adapting each person to the laws. And when all the gifts of the gods, whatever the air, or the water, or the earth brings forth, were supplied abundantly and copiously to the king, he granted the use of all those things to the people; he himself rejected all the comforts of life, and held no labor more urgent, being as sparing of sleep as he was a participant in very many cares and anxieties, and, to speak once for all, being unoccupied for the sake of the leisure of all. Therefore he also enriched all men with every kind of good, both internal to the soul and external, individually, and by families, and by lineages, and by cities, and by entire provinces. C For he also excited an emulation of virtue, instructing that all study and every discipline be referred to this one end, and he established rewards for those who were preeminent in the skill of governing men, and who could make those over whom they were set similar to themselves. Moreover, whatever is held in honor must of necessity become famous and increase. Thus, the love of all learning, as much that which pertains to the soul as that which pertains to the cultivation of the tongue, was taking on new growth day by day. For those who excelled others in this were no longer of the common herd and plebeians, but were enticed by the most ample honors from the king, because they professed that art which is the handmaid of wisdom. For while a sentiment comes forth, it is in a way clothed in speech; and if that [speech] has been adorned harmoniously or otherwise—which in [a man] D whose mind is clothed in words shows both well and poorly dressed, just as a man is shown to be graceful or ungraceful. Osiris, therefore, thought it right to honor education; for he believed education to be the source of virtue. Piety, indeed, was at that time, of all seasons, most native to the Egyptians. These were the goods of the soul, and the Egyptians flourished under the reign of Osiris, so as to resemble...
a school of virtue, with the children looking toward one leader and doing whatever they saw, and saying whatever they might hear. As for wealth, he himself neglected it; but he took every care that it should be present for all, being most unselfish and most bountiful. And he remitted taxes to the cities; to those in need he gave, and he raised up that which was fallen, and healed that which was about to fail. A One thing he raised to greatness, another he fashioned in beauty; to one he added what was lacking, and another he resettled. It is necessary for each one to enjoy the common goods; and he did not labor to lower himself to the anxiety for this or that person, so that it came to pass that during his reign no man was seen weeping. Nor did Osiris remain unaware of who might need what, and what hinders a certain man from being happy. The one, he judged, sought just honor, and he rendered it; the other, because he was busied with books and lacked time to provide for his own food, he gave his meal in the Prytaneum (27). Another, indeed, cared nothing for human honor, and fed well on the things that remained to him, though he B was perhaps ashamed to perform the public service; nor did he ignore even this, but released him from the service—not being importuned, but by being the first to offer before being asked, through respect for his wisdom, deeming such a man to be self-governed and exempt, like a sacred animal consecrated to God. To sum it up, no one missed his due, unless it were someone to whom some evil was owed; but to him he did not grant the due. For he made it his ambition to overcome even the most shameless person through his mildness of judgment and his good deeds. And by this means he thought that he would prevail over his brother and his conspiracy, having transformed natures through a surplus of virtue—being mistaken in this judgment. For envy does not cease at the hands of virtue.
NOTES OF DIONYSIUS PETAVIUS
(27) *He gave his meal in the Prytaneum.* He fashioned the term *prytaneion* according to the custom of the Greek cities among the Egyptians. By "sustenance," he means what is called in the Prytaneum. Scaliger, page 457 of *De emendatione temporum*, thinks this, and falsely adapts to this sense the passage from Antiphanes, where a parasite, boasting of his art, does not make himself inferior to the Hieronicae, who were fed in the Prytaneum at public and others' expense. It cannot be gathered from these words that they were the sustenance of the Olympic victors. For the sense is rather this: wherever one dines without tokens, there are prytanea, that is, places C where they are cared for at the expense of another. Thus, parasites have their own prytanea, namely, the dining halls of the nobles and the rich, into which they come without tokens. No less false is the same Scaliger, when he conjectures from Anianus, an ancient interpreter of Chrysostom, that Chrysostom used *prytaneia* instead of "sportula" (dole) in the Prytaneum. But these things are read neither in Anianus nor in Chrysostom. The words of Chrysostom are in his homily on Matthew: Anianus, however, renders it thus: "The prizes, however, in this discipline are neither the olive branch (laurel), nor the garland mixed with wild olive leaves, nor feasts provided publicly in the prytaneum." So he. Neither "sportula" commonly exists nor in the prytaneum; which, however, I do not disapprove. Nor for this reason should Scaliger be heard, when he says the word *sportula*, which the scholiast of Aristophanes on the *Clouds* says is meant by the term D *prytaneia*, is restricted to the food of the Hieronicae in the prytanea. For neither do the words signify that food; and *sportulae* are... See Casaubon in Book VIII of Athenaeus, ch. 9. Furthermore, the Hieronicae were fed in the prytanea from taxes established by the republic; and therefore they openly wore the badges of their victories, which Scaliger thinks are called *trechedipna* and *niceteria* by Juvenal in these verses: *Lo, your rustic, Quirinus, assumes trechedipna,* *And carries niceteria on his ceromatic neck.* [XXXVIII] I do not think what is said about *trechedipna* is true. For they are parasitic garments, as the old interpreter notes, whom, however, I do not follow when he says *niceteria* are foreign garments. Better is what he adds: "For *niceteria* also are *syllateria*, which were made for victory, and were worn hanging from the neck." I would have believed that *syllateria* were called... For contests of this kind were called "iselastic," because they were led into the fatherland through interrupted walls in white four-horse chariots, as we noted on Themistius, *Oration*. These badges, and the *niceteria*, seem to have been "bravia" (prizes). For the *bravium* was a certain ornament, the figure of which was like a grape leaf, as Ambrose teaches in *Hexaem.*, Book 3, chap. 14, where, speaking of the vine leaf, he says: We see, he says, it is so cut and divided that it seems to show the species of three leaves, etc. Soon after: For it seems to fashion the species of the *bravium*; signifying that it holds the first place among the other hanging fruits; to which, however, by a certain judgment of nature, but by an evident sign, the species is born, and...
as the benefits progress, so does the sorrow arising from them; a condition which the heavy-hearted brother suffered regarding the rule of Osiris.
13. Immediately, indeed, upon receiving the command, he nearly perished, striking his wretched head B and violently dashing it against the columns; for many days he did not take food, though he was a great glutton; he cast away drink, though he was a great lover of wine. Loving sleep, he nonetheless remained sleepless; he was caught in wakefulness, even though he mightily tried to repel it, and even when he deliberately closed his eyes, to relieve his soul from the stinging memories. But memory resists most stubbornly him who wishes to lay it aside; so that, even to one with eyes closed, the images of his evils were present; and if sleep ever happened to steal upon him, he fared even more miserably in his dreams, seeing before his eyes that hill, those stones, and those hands lifted against his brother; and when he awoke, he would gladly have fled from the terrible sight and for a long time would have stopped his ears against the sound of those congratulating him; nor could he endure quiet, as his soul was incensed, and calamities met him whenever he set foot outside the house, as Osiris was being celebrated by all in speech, in deeds, and in songs; how great was the beauty of the new king in his bodily appearance, and how great his wisdom in speech; and how his greatness of soul was without arrogance, and his clemency without baseness. To these things he would immediately retreat, and again shut himself up at home, C not knowing what to do with his life, neither he nor his wife, that other great evil (28), the dresser of her own hair, insatiable for the theater and the market-place.
DIONYSII PETAVII NOTES
...the prerogative of victory. Moreover, from the occasion of the word, no small error of the glossographers is to be exposed. Aristophanes had said in the *Wasps* that these were the principal revenues of the Athenians: *Prytaneum, mines, wages, and things sold by public auction: The total of these, of talents, nears two thousand for us.* ...Of these prytanea... [of the] strigil... He examines, then, whether the one defining gives to each thing what it is born for. For in some cases, one can use each of those things related to others only for that for which it is born, and for nothing else, as the eye only for seeing; but in others, for something else, as with a strigil, one could even draw water; but nevertheless, if one were to define the strigil as an instrument for drawing water, he has erred; for it was not born for this. For one would not use it only for scraping oneself, but also for drawing water; [yet it is] not a long and [vastly] long-winded trifling.
(28) *Another great evil.* So Plato in the *Theaetetus*, and "long and long-winded trifles." But this wife of Typhon is called Nephthys, who was the first of all to be sterile. Plutarch, *On Isis and Osiris*.
the gaze of all turned toward her, and imagining—as indeed she did—that for this reason falling from the kingdom was a greater calamity for her husband, A thinking that in this way she would spread the state onto a grander stage and indulge her power. B Typho had already been ensnared by her, though he was older, like a boy just initiated into the urges of Aphrodite; and for him, part of his misfortune was the shame of that woman, toward whom he had ambitiously boasted that he would attain the greatest rule and share the dominion with her. She, meanwhile, even in private life, was a most evident thing, desiring to be esteemed in matters most contradictory: she was a most feminine woman in discovering luxuries, applying them to her beauty, and yielding to nature, yet she was most daring in setting out for masculine concerns and attempting the trial, being a woman of many ways and an innovator. She had prepared for these things, and for others, to have all the courtesans and the men who approached her of one mind, and to use them for whatever she had an inclination for, both at home and abroad. With regard to Osiris, because she lived in the women's quarters, she reminded him of the child, who was seen by men, although the child, Horus, was a rare spectacle. For Osiris thought the one virtue of a woman was that neither her body nor her name should cross her threshold. Thus, not even attaining the summit of fortune stirred the temperate woman from her established conduct; rather, she was hidden all the more by the magnitude of his power. C Since not even he himself felt more fortunate on account of this; but he knew that, even had he not attained it, he would be no less happy. For each person is himself the steward of such things for himself, if he wishes to be a good man. Therefore, one might see those who live by virtue, whether they be private citizens or rulers, enjoying equal tranquility. For all of life is the material of virtue. As we see on the stage the actors of a tragedy: whoever has well trained his voice, he acts both Creon and Telephus with no difference, and he will differ in nothing by his rags from bellowing something great and noble, and capturing the theater with the sound of the melody; but he will display the servant and the mistress with the same art, and whatever mask he dons, the manager of the drama requires of him that he do it well; so for us, God and fortune place lives as if they were masks in the great drama of the world, and one life is not at all better or worse than another; rather, each uses it as he is able. The virtuous man is able to conduct himself well everywhere, whether he acts the beggar or the monarch. He will care nothing for the mask. For the tragedian would be ridiculous, shunning the one and choosing the other. For even in— D
A that role which he performs well and with praise, he will be celebrated by the crown and the announcer’s voice; whereas he who sustains the role of a king ungracefully will be received with the hissing and insolent noises of all, and sometimes even pelted with stones. For nothing belonging to us is truly our own life; we hold those of others, imposed from without. But as for us, while we make the faculty that uses these things within either better or worse and display it, we are the actors of living dramas. Hence these can, like certain garments, be put on or put off.
14. Moreover, Osiris (for he had been taught what was his own and what was foreign) knew that happiness was to be measured by the soul. He had therefore so accustomed himself and all his household that they were all affected in the same way and endowed with the same spirit, and neither those who were private citizens nor those holding some dignity mixed external things with themselves in any way. Others, on the contrary (for they were entirely given over to the senses and devoid of judgment and mind, idle lovers of fortune, and believing that which is foreign to be their own property), were puffed up, hanging in suspense on a certain vain and insolent expectation of kingship; and when it did not arrive for them, having cast away all hope for themselves, they did not consider life living any longer. And it is right and should be urged again and more often for mortals that the rule of ignorance is not to expect the condition of our life patiently, so as to receive the portion that is brought around to us as it comes, but to take it by force and grab it beforehand. For if such a one obtains it, he will be ridiculous, as an inept and boorish guest, and will offend the host of the banquet, C as one who, with sordid illiberality, disrupts the order as far as in him lies; but if he does not obtain it, besides this, he will wail like a child, anxious about the portion that has been carried past and reached his neighbor, while he himself is left empty-handed. All similar things happened to Typhon. For he was hateful to the gods, and lamented most bitterly, and that fact had stirred up the laughter of the people. For not only because he had been pining away for many months and was expected to die daily, did he move no pity, but he stirred up anger in the stronger, and laughter in the more soft-minded, so that the matter had already become a proverb and a question to those who were pale with envy: "Is there anything good for your brother?" And he would have perished justly by his own hand, delivered to the evil; but now the accursed woman, and D being [index: entries preserved]
being in a state of A extreme dread at these disasters, restored both herself and him, always employing a relaxed manner toward him, and checking his weeping, busying herself with him, warding off one passion with another, and building up pleasure to replace sorrow. Thus he struggled, alternating between the most contrary evils. Now he would groan, now he would revel; and at that time more dissolute boys pushed their way into the house, and revelries and drinking bouts B ensued, to waste their time with them and to soothe the haze of the soul. They devised other things as well, so that there would be no leisure to remember the good things of Osiris: they made swimming pools, and in the pools islands, and on the islands man-made hot baths, so that they might bathe nude with women and have intercourse with them promiscuously.
15. As they were engaged in these things, the attack of the tyranny came to mind at the suggestion of evil demons, who provided the method and reasoning C for the deed, and they were already openly present and hovering over them, inciting them. For it was not tolerable to them to see their own affairs being ruined dishonorably, while wisdom was being practiced, piety was growing, injustice was being driven away, concord was being established, and all good things were flourishing. The word "weeping" had finally disappeared for the Egyptians; all things were auspicious, all things in order, the state, like a single living creature, having the Law as its soul and moving according to it, with the parts agreeing with the whole. The demons, being stirred D to madness by this, attached themselves to these, using their own kindred as instruments. Evil was thus contrived in two women's quarters. For there was, in the royal city, the residence of the commander of the foreign troops, who himself and the multitude were thought to be serving alongside the Egyptians; but at that time they were waging a war that was not fortunate toward some portion of them that had revolted, and certain Egyptian villages were being severely ravaged—the demons having prepared this for the enactment of the drama. The wife of Typhon visited this man’s wife day and night, and she easily persuaded the barbarous, foolish old woman—that wily deceiver—that she cared for her, and that she foresaw evil coming upon them if matters remained according to Osiris; for she accused them of treason and maintained that a conspired war was being waged against them, with the foreigners having shared in the decision.
A Typhon’s wife, a woman most expert in the arts of the Cercopes and a match for that savage and foolish old crone, easily persuaded her that she too was concerned about the very grave evil she had long foreseen, should Osiris’ affairs succeed according to his wishes. For she said that he suspected treason and thought that a war was being waged between them by compact, as the barbarians were breaking camp with the same consensus of spirit. She has decided, she said, to recall him with all force or artifice, and at the same time, once he has laid down his arms and his authority has been abrogated, to destroy him and you and your children—these noble ones, I mean, these splendid charges—to kill them even before puberty; and as she spoke, she wept, gently touching the boys’ chins, feigning benevolence through pity. The Scythian old woman groaned at once, imagining she was about to see the evils themselves before her eyes and suffer them. But the other added new tokens and signs to these daily, as if reporting secret plans against them. For she claimed that Osiris was planning to drive the Scythians from the country entirely, doing this every day, secretly filling registers, and providing for the rest so that the Egyptians might dwell by themselves, having either slaughtered the barbarians or driven them out. This, she said, would be most easy once he had removed their leader from his prefecture by a codicil and subjected him to the laws; once this was done, he thought he would exterminate the others with little effort. B And now, she said, Typhon sits at home mourning; for he favors your cause and has always placed his plans for handling the republic in the aiding of the barbarians, on account of whom we ourselves have fallen from the kingdom, since you were not present at the time of the proclamation; for had that happened, it would now be possible for you to insult the Egyptians, to invade their goods, and to use them as masters use slaves. But neither did you help at all in that matter then, nor have we enough strength now to bring aid, yet we consider the imminent evils of our friends to be our own misfortune. Having thus struck the old woman with fear and terror by fraud, as if no escape from the evil remained, she thought it was enough, and began to attempt another course, to remove all fear from the barbarian woman; for she had already learned to obey and show deference, while her mind was drawn to diverse sentiments. So, confirming her as she wavered little by little, she filled her with hope and confidence. "Truly," she said, "the plan is great and arduous, and new boldness is needed for it, so that our lives are no longer in the power and at the discretion of Osiris." C Thus she first signified defection obscurely; then a little more openly; and finally she revealed it manifestly, little by little accustoming the little woman to hear of the thing and audaciously to undertake it; until, having astonished her with terror, she added boldness and spirit to her, declaring that it was clearly all over for the power of Osiris, if they should so wish. For the law, she said, D and the custom of honor, and the ancient and ancestral tradition, enslaves those who are sluggish; but whoever has started up, tries his strength, and he is free who possesses the power, provided he is not struck down in his mind by custom, so that we may not suffer what we suffer, with you being in arms and Osiris doing nothing, but only praying to the gods, and now acting through embassies, now judging lawsuits, and now doing some other of the peaceful things. For to those of us who have never shared and brought together my nobility and your hands, there will be no harm from any Scythian; for you will appear not to be subverting anything great, nor moving the things of the Egyptians, nor overturning the state, but establishing and—
A rendering it to a better condition if the empire should be procured for Typhon through you, who is born of the same lineage as Osiris, and by right of age, the head of the Egyptian empire more justly belongs to him. Thus it will come to be that, with no great change having been made regarding the old state of the republic, not even the Egyptians will form any coalition at all against you. Furthermore, the trappings and insignia of the kingdom will remain with us; but yours will be whatever profit comes from it; and the whole of Egypt will be offered to you as if for a banquet to be feasted upon; only do you guarantee that you will persuade the man." "You yourself," she said, "will provide both these things, the persuasion and the evidence." This seemed right to both, and as soon as his arrival was announced, in part, ambiguous words about the plots were spread by suborned precursors, who, under a pretense of silence, proclaimed this very thing B much more openly than those who shout with a loud voice, namely that which they seemed to want to keep secret: in part, obscure letters were creating terror, by which they were told that they must look to their own safety: soon also someone said publicly that he must snatch himself from the ambushes: then another more clearly, then one after another, all of them allies of the Typhonic faction and the women’s conspiracy. Above all, the women, the creators of the drama, go out to meet them, and Typhon himself, as if having gone out of the city for some other business, meets him secretly, and settles with him concerning the empire, and urges him to set about the deed immediately, and even if it should be necessary to destroy the royal city along with Osiris, he gives his consent, and offers this, as if the rest of Egypt were enough for him, and at the same time, "so that," he says, "your soldiers may be enriched, once they have enslaved the city, which is wealthy and a common hearth for the famous men in Egypt, and have plundered its treasures." And the good Typhon offered this C to the barbarian out of hatred for the citizens, because everyone pursued Osiris with singular benevolence. But the Scythian said he would not do it; for his part, both the most august senate, and the most modest plebeians, and the civil magistrates were a matter of religion; and he said he was not moving against Osiris voluntarily, but by necessity, indeed by that necessity which he himself had created: but if, with the city saved and the region left unharmed and safe, he should come into his power, he said he would count it a gain if no further necessity of a greater evil were brought upon him.
16. Further, the myth declares that it will not linger gladly on the sufferings of Osiris; for it is not human, it admits, for anyone to insist for too long on a sad and troublesome narrative. From that time, however, the days of the sacred tears, black and nefasti, D are observed even until now since that event, and those for whom it is permitted to see, the moving of the
images A of these, contemplate them. But that which is worthy of record, and permitted to be told to profane ears, he says is this: that Osiris surrendered himself for the sake of his country, for the sacred rites, and for the laws, to those who threatened that, if he were not handed over to them immediately, they would destroy everything. He crossed the river current in a transport ship, and was immediately placed under guard somewhere, whether on land or sea; and a council was held by the barbarians concerning his fate, in which Typho demanded that he be put to death as quickly and violently as possible. The barbarians, however, although they believed that an injury had been inflicted upon them by him, nevertheless, out of reverence for his virtue, judged that such an act would bring reproach upon them. They were content with exile—which was, even in itself, a source of shame for them—and they wished it to be regarded not as an exile, but as a relocation. They allowed him to keep his wealth and possessions, even when Typho offered these to them; but they, desiring nothing of the sort, did not touch anything sacred. He, indeed, accompanied by the gods and by good heroes, set forth, destined to be recalled from exile in due time. For it was not fitting that B the worse things should prevail among the Egyptians, nor that all things should so quickly be disturbed and thrown into confusion, while that sacred and divine soul still resided in those seats. Indeed, in order that such things might be allowed to happen, those demons, whose proper office this is, set upon him from the very beginning; and the man whom they, a long time ago, had brought into the light, and most recently had raised to the tyranny, served as their minister, feeding them with various miseries and afflictions. Taxes, therefore, were immediately multiplied upon the cities; taxes that had never existed were either invented, or old and forgotten ones were re-enacted. He who earned his living on the water was compelled to pay the same as the inhabitants of the mainland; conversely, those who lived inland were required to provide ships, so that no person, whosoever he might be, could remain idle. These were the most public of the evils, and another, still more common, was added: he would send out for sale those who were to be governors of the provinces, having publicly put the cities up for auction, and, having received the price, he would release them. Anyone who had rented the governorship of some province, or if it were some young man, having made an agreement for a one-year lease, C would consider it necessary to gather for himself, in that one year, his provisions for a profligate old age. For this, too, was one of the things that occurred during the reign of Typho: that the time of the governorship was agreed upon by contract for those who had paid money. Whereas previously one was removed from office on account of wickedness, and for another the reward for virtue was higher honor, a greater command, and an extended term of office. Thus, from that time, everyone everywhere became a byword for misery, each of them having a private evil to speak of, and they were plagued with every kind of wickedness in the popular assemblies and the council chambers, so that one single cry might be raised from Egypt to heaven—the echo of a common lament. But the gods took pity on the race, and prepared themselves to avenge them. Yet, it did not seem right to them to undertake this before a clearer comparison between virtue and vice had been made, so that even those who use less judgment of mind might be able, by sense alone, to discern what is better and what is worse, and to embrace the one and decline the other.
17. Typho, therefore, also set his hand to utterly root out and abolish the kingdom D of Osiris from the memory of men,
A and sought to achieve this by many other ways, but not least by this one: he would make judgments that had already been passed void and of no effect, so that the one who had lost his case would end up winning it; he would decree answers to embassies contrary to what had been granted, those who were his enemies being the very ones who had benefited by that divine speech; and he required that he himself, and the city, and the race should keep company with disasters.
Now, there were two means B held in readiness against him in cases of helplessness, if anyone would measure out money to his wife. She sat openly as though in a brothel, using the services of harlots and panders for bodily pleasures and for transacting affairs, making what had long been called by the Egyptians a tribunal into a marketplace for lawsuits; whoever spoke with her encountered a mild Typhon, for he was otherwise tame and tractable to the women's quarters, and he felt grateful, as if they had acquired the tyranny for him. This was one way in difficulties for those attempting to overcome his harshness, and there was another: if someone approached one of those from the nefarious assembly of Typhon’s constant companions. These men were called "the great" and "the blessed," though they were wretched and counterfeit little men. To them, therefore, it was necessary for one to approach and cast some slur upon Osiris, seasoned with a certain wit; and this was done by those who had no concern for virtue and did not think it shameful to make a profit from every occasion. B Straightaway, therefore, their fortune changed, just as their disposition did; for the remark would enter the tyrant’s house and be bandied about at the table. Thus, he would requite those who spoke obsequiously to please him. One and another did this, and they indeed gained some profit from it, but they did not doubt that they were hateful to the gods and to prudent men; but the greater part endured it with unconquerable patience of soul.
18. C Now there was a certain man, profound but raised in a somewhat rustic way through the study of philosophy and unacquainted with the urban character. This man had been found by Osiris, like all men, to have received very many good things, both in not having to perform public service himself and in his own country obtaining an easier performance of service. Many at that time were composing verses and writing speeches and hymns to Osiris, and in return for favors were showing him a kind of favor, and he was as grateful as those others, and more so, in as much as he was able; he both composed and wrote, and he sang to the lyre in the Dorian mode, which alone he thought capable of containing a weight of character and expression; yet he did not bring them out to the multitude, but if there was an ear that understood virile words, and that did not delight in being tickled but was pierced to the very heart, to such a one he would entrust his own discourses. D He knew that Osiris was a most accurate judge of such compositions, whether ephemeral or long-lasting; yet he was determined not to say anything to him about himself, partly because he did not think that a speech was an equal recompense for his benefits, and partly, through the rustic upbringing in which he had been reared, being ashamed of the appearance of flattery. But when Typhon had forcibly seized Egypt and was playing the tyrant, and he was even more rustic than before, then he would bring them out, then he would show his speeches, while everyone shuddered at the hearing.
But he thought it impious A if he were not to openly persecute those who had treated his benefactor indignantly and cruelly. Therefore, he devoted Typhon to the most execrable curses and imprecations of the ultimate kind, both in writing and in speech. He who was formerly accused for his silence was now most talkative, both at home and in the forum. In every conversation, and in every gathering B of men where he was present, he would proclaim the praises of Osiris, and he would bludgeon even those who were reluctant and unwilling with frequent narrations of this kind, nor could the warnings of old men or friends sway him, nor could fear deter him from his purpose; but he seemed to be seized by a madness worthy of a free man. Nor did he desist until, approaching Typhon, who was surrounded by the best men chosen from every city, he had spoken at length in his presence on the praises of his brother and had warned him to emulate the virtue of him with whom he was joined by the closest bond of necessity. But he, C immediately flaring up and clearly raging, restrained his hands with difficulty out of respect for those who had gathered, and he kept control of himself out of necessity; yet so much so that from his very face the signs of his mind, seething with various perturbations from side to side, could be gathered; so wonderful was the alternation of colors in him in such a short space of time. From that time on, he became more hostile to Typhon; and with success growing worse by the day, not only did all the things that had been bestowed by Osiris begin to slip away, but also other troubles besides were inflicted by Typhon. For the cities whose patronage he had undertaken were treated most cruelly D by him; and privately he plotted evil for him himself, so that he might never return home, but remaining there where he was, he might perpetually groan over the happiness of others whom he hated. While the foreigner was enduring these troubles, one of the gods, appearing visibly, confirmed him with his presence and bade him be of good cheer; for he said that it was not years, but months, that were fixed by the necessity of the fates, after which the Egyptian scepters would raise up the claws of wild beasts but lower the beaks of sacred birds. This was a hidden and secret symbol, a picture which, being carved seven times on the obelisks and the sacred monuments of the temples, was not unknown to the foreigner. Then God explained these monuments hidden in figures, and added a sign of the time: "When," he said, "those who hold the highest power of the kingdom begin to innovate in the rite of our sacred observances, then at last, not long after..."
[the start of this course], a certain wicked faction A of superstition and a debasing of piety—like counterfeit coin, which ancient law drives out of the cities, keeping impiety outside and far from the walls—will manifest itself. Since this Typho did not set [this corruption] upon us openly, for fear of the Egyptian populace, but introduced it through the barbarians, and established a temple in the city, having overthrown the ancestral laws, the stranger immediately realized that this was indeed that divine prophecy; perhaps, then, I might see the events that follow. He understood and accepted the things that were about to come: those concerning Osiris, and those for the years not yet present, when it should be the intention of Horus to choose the wolf, rather than the lion, as his ally in battle. But who this wolf is, is a sacred logos, which it is not lawful to divulge, even under the guise of an allegory." B
DION. PETAVIUS' NOTES
(39) *A certain wicked faction.* He alludes to Gainas the Goth and the Arian, who dared to demand a church for his sect from Arcadius and was deterred by St. John Chrysostom. (40) *The wolf, rather than the lion.* Plutarch writes in that work often cited above, that when Horus was preparing for war against Typhon, Osiris [asked] C what he considered most honorable. Horus answering that nothing seemed more honorable to him than to avenge his parents, [Osiris] asked in turn what animal was more useful for one waging war; and [Horus] replied that the horse seemed [the best] to him. Finally, when asked why he had chosen the horse rather than the lion, he replied that the lion seemed [most useful] to one who did *not* need assistance, whereas the horse [was most useful] to one who was fleeing, to tear to pieces and consume the enemy. When these things were heard, Osiris was greatly pleased, because he seemed now prepared for the initiation of the war. But our author says that not the horse, but the wolf, was preferred to the lion; what this means, as well as those higher hieroglyphics, can be divined in some way, but it cannot be known for certain.
SECOND DISCOURSE
SECTION SECOND
1. After this, signs D of the presence of the gods began to appear, since everywhere and in all things everything was full of evils, and *faith in Providence* had already completely flowed out of the minds of men—or rather, the impious assumption [had flowed] out of the...
A opinion, confirming it with the daily proof of the things that were being seen. For no hope of human aid appeared anywhere, as the barbarians were using the city for a military camp. Their leader was disturbed at night by terrors, for the Corybantes, I suppose, were attacking him, and sudden panic note 42: "Panic" terrors, they say, exist when horses and men in camps are suddenly disturbed, with no obvious cause. For women were accustomed to celebrate the orgies of Pan with a cry, which, happening suddenly by the possession of the god, arouses fear in those who hear it. noises would seize the army during the day. This, having occurred repeatedly, rendered them deranged and devoid of counsel. They wandered about individually and all together, not unlike those possessed by nymphs, now stirred to war with great ardor of mind, with swords drawn, and as if already about to fight; then again, lamenting with a mournful and tearful voice, begging to be saved, and leaping forth again; at one moment they were seen to be fleeing, at another pursuing, as if some hidden faction in the city were resisting them. But there was nothing here for weapons, nor could anyone be found to use them, and all of them, as if they were prey most prepared, were delivered to the barbarians by Typhon.
B Indeed, it is manifest that, even for the most well-equipped men, unless they wish for all things to have been prepared in vain, there is need of the help of the gods; and that victory cannot be achieved from elsewhere. Yet, because it is considered fair that he who possesses all things better prepared should be superior to those who act inconsiderately and headlong, there are not wanting those who take away from that primary cause its due merit in the matter. For as often as we have performed everything that was in our power, we judge the help of God to be superfluous, so that by right a claim is made for victory on behalf of humanly prepared aid; but when the task is accomplished without the intervention of anyone, and the reason for the deed is attributed solely to that more secret cause, then at last we have an argument for convincing those who deny that the gods care for mortal affairs—an argument not in words, but manifest in the deed itself: C just as that incident also was. Those most bold men, the victors, the armored ones, whose entire study and game was nothing other than the continuous exercise of war, knights marching into the forum in ordered ranks, moving by companies at the sound of the trumpet (for if anyone needed a drink, or a cobbler, or wished to clean his sword, the others would perform the task of attendants to finish the work of each one, so that the battle line would not be distracted even through the narrow streets); these men, I say, were seen by the crowd of us—the naked, the unarmed, those who had fallen in their minds, those who did not even dare to win—fleeing in flight by a common sign and withdrawing from the city, stealing children, women, and the most precious things, as if it were not possible to enslave the Egyptians openly. D The crowd of us, looking at them preparing themselves, did not yet understand the thing that was happening, but they despaired of themselves even more, so that some shut themselves in their houses, staying there and waiting for the fire; others, seeing the fire, were being snatched away.
A, having procured a milder instrument of death, not to perform some task, but to offer themselves up, when the time came, for slaughter. Others set about to sail, and were looking toward islands, and villages, and cities across the borders. For every place then seemed more secure than the great Thebes, in which the palace of the Egyptians had been established. And that the gods even with difficulty and little by little led them to believe what was happening, and to be of good courage, and to choose to be saved—this indeed strikes one as quite incredible to hear.
B 2. A certain poor woman, quite elderly, had a job by one of the side gates, a job not fortunate, but necessary, to stretch out her hands, if anyone should throw in an obol. She used to reach the begging-seat [see note (45)] very early; for the needs of daily life are dreadfully effective at cheating nature of sleep. Sitting there, she would do what she was accustomed to do, encouraging those who were stirring to their work with good omens, and preaching the day, and praying, and promising that God would be propitious. From afar, therefore, seeing what was being done by the Scythians, since it was clearly day and they did not cease at all, like thieves, running out and in, all of them packing up their goods, she took it to heart that this was the last sun for Thebes to see. For this was being done so that the city would hold no pledge of theirs, so that as soon as they should decamp, they being thieves, would begin their unjust deeds, having them here, so that they might not share in the harm C, the wrongdoers being guests of the wronged. Therefore, having overturned the cash-box of the money-gatherer, and having lamented and cried out to God again and again, "But you," she said [see note (46)], "having fallen from your ancestral land and wandering, Egypt received as suppliants; and she treated you not only in the manner befitting suppliants, but also granted you citizenship, and shared her honors, and, this last thing of all, made you masters of affairs. So that now some of the Egyptians are becoming Scythianized, with the benefit of the pretense. Your own customs are held in higher value than those of the land. But why these things? Why are you changing your dwellings? Why are you packing up and preparing to leave? Surely the gods are not passing judgment for this ingratitude against their benefactors. For they exist, and they will come, even if after Thebes." The woman having said this, threw herself down face-first. And a certain Scythian stands over her, holding his sword D.
DION. PETAVII NOTES.
(45) *To the begging-seat*. Not that this woman was a trickster, but that she was a beggar. For *agyrtès* is defined by Suidas and Hesychius not only as a seer, or a Gallus, or one who gathers a crowd—in which way Heliodorus simply used *ageirousan* for a female traveling performer—but also as a poor person, a beggar, a ragged person. The Latins also called the begging-seat a *proseucha*. Juv. Sat. 4: "Tell me where you stand, in which proseucha I should look for you."
(46) *But you, she said*. By oblique and figurative speech she inveighs against the Goths and Scythians of her own time, as we said in the argument. Certainly the ruin that is said here to be poured out by the Scythians upon the Egyptians is the same that was imposed upon the Romans in the times of Synesius. For then the barbarians obtained prefectures and consulships, and most of the princes were excessively delighted by their cultivation; about which matter I have already warned.
A Since the gods are not ungrateful—as you yourselves do—in the way they judge those who act against their benefactors. For they exist, and even after the destruction of Thebes, they will arrive one day. Having said this, she threw herself prone upon the ground. Upon this, a certain Scythian rushed forward, having drawn his sword to cut off the woman's head, suspecting that she was reviling him and betraying the nightly deed by her declaration. For he believed that his people were still doing these things in secret, because no one among those who had perceived it had dared to give a sign; and she would indeed have perished, run through by iron. But whether it was some god or someone very like a god who intervened—he certainly bore the appearance of a human being—he, appearing to take this indignantly, turned the Scythian toward himself, withstood the one rushing at him, and, having anticipated him with a blow, struck him down dead upon the ground. Soon another Scythian, rushing at him, B immediately suffered the same fate. From this arose a clamor and a concourse of men: on one side, the barbarians abandoned their pack animals and baggage-trains, which had been caught at the very exit at that moment, as they were either about to go out or had already progressed some distance; for they were turning back their steps to bring aid to their own as quickly as possible. On the other side was a dense crowd of the people. Of these, this one falls when struck; that one slaughters a Scythian; and this Scythian is in turn struck down by another; and on both sides, someone was always being laid low by another, or killing another. For the people were using whatever fell into their hands as though it were emergency weaponry. Furthermore, whether they wished to seize from the spoils of the dead, or to strip them from the living themselves, they were able to have an abundance of swords. The multitude, however, was far superior to the barbarians; for some of the latter had placed their camps as far as possible from the city, so that there would be less cause for fear from that column, which their god had therefore set in motion against them in name only, so that they might let go of the city that they held in their power. The others, inferior in number to the citizens, were tending to the baggage throughout the city, so that nothing would be left behind in it. Therefore being more numerous, they gathered against those who were encountered at the gates and those constantly arriving there as if for an exit. The shouting grew louder, and the power of the gods was then most clearly perceived. For since the perception of the tumult had seized the city—however great its size—and had reached the army of the foreigners, and both sides had long been fearing an attack from the others, each man of the people, believing this to be the decisive day for Egypt, C on which the barbarians had determined to behave with all restraint cast aside, decided to perform some strenuous act before suffering, and to hold virtue as a substitute for a tomb; since not even the god himself seemed a sufficiently reliable guarantor that they would not suffer some harm. Therefore, where there was the greatest tumult, thither they rushed rapidly; and they counted it as profit if, leaving witnesses behind, they engaged in the risk of war. The barbarians, however, had secretly withdrawn, and thinking that they had been found out, they neglected those who had been left behind, D though they were indeed fragments of the army. Fearing for themselves lest the enemies might sally out against them, they made their escape and camped further away, giving thanks that they had been saved for the most part, having been on the verge of endangering themselves entirely. Of those who had been left behind, some in the houses, and these—due to being long since god-struck and suspected by the Egyptians of being a bane incurable—believed that the onset against those who had gone out had been made as against fugitives, and that the camp would be instantly plundered, and that it would be of gain to them to abide in their place, if they were to lay down their arms and as suppliants...
were to sit A; for they thought that by this means it would be believed that they alone had remained behind because they had done the Egyptians no harm, and that those who had fled had departed the city fearing just retribution for what they had done. But those alone who stood at the gates, and around whom the danger lay, knew the truth—that there was nothing strong among the Egyptians in established order, no hoplite, no armor, no javelin-thrower, no javelin. They form a plan to, if they could, capture the gates from the others and call in those who were fearing in vain; for the whole city would be taken, like a bird's nest. A fierce battle is joined around them, in which the Egyptians prevail; and they sing a paean of victory. Fear seizes the barbarians both inside and outside. For they thought that the business had been accomplished by the Egyptians against the former, and by those against these, B so that they were lamenting one another; nor did the victors stop before they had attached doors to all the gates—no small task in Thebes, which the Greeks sing of as having a hundred gates. And one of those who took part in the struggle at the gates, having run from the midst of the weapons for this very purpose, announced it and promised the city to the Scythians; but they had arrived in vain, at one moment praising and at another blaming fortune. For as long as they were outside the nets, they were then exceedingly happy with themselves; but afterwards, they even desired for the city to be overthrown and for at least a part of the wall to be broken down, for the sake of attacking the city again. So C unassailable a thing is the wisdom of God, and neither is strong armor, nor a resourceful mind of any avail, if God is not present. So that even some have strategized against themselves. And it seems to me to be excellently said that man is a plaything of God, who is always playing with affairs and casting dice. I think Homer was the first of the Greeks to comprehend this, in instituting games and providing prizes of all kinds of contests at the funeral of Patroclus; in all of which those who were expected to win were at a disadvantage. Teucer is left behind by an ignoble archer, and D:
The best man drives his single-hooved horses in the last place, And a youth is overcome by an old man in the swiftness of his feet, And Ajax is shamed in the heavy contest.
And yet he himself proclaims him the best of all those gathered for Ilium 121 by far, except for Achilles. But skill, he says, and practice, and age, and natural superiority, are all small things when compared to the divine.
A But to return to the Egyptians: as soon as they gained the gates completely, and had the walls between themselves and the enemy, they turned their attack upon those who had been left behind in the city, striking and wounding them individually and in groups, both cutting and piercing. Those who fled to more fortified places, even along with the very temples and priests, they burned like wasps. Typhon complained and cried out in vain, for he was devoted to the religion of the Scythians and argued that envoys should be sent to those people to negotiate peace; in the end he directed all his efforts toward getting the barbarian forces to break into the city again, as if no great harm had occurred. But the common people, all acting of their own accord—without a commander, save that each man, with the gods themselves helping, was to himself commander and soldier, officer and private—were moved by their own impulse. For what cannot come to pass when God wills it and incites the spirits of men with sudden impulse and the keenest incentives to defend and preserve their safety by every means? Thus, they no longer entrusted the city gates to the whim of Typhon, and the tyranny itself finally withered away, as if lifeless, since that from which it had first been fashioned had been cast out of the city. B Therefore, in the first assembly convened before the high priest, the sacred fire was kindled, and supplications were offered to the gods, partly in thanksgiving for what had been accomplished, and partly in petition for what was soon to be done. Then they demanded that Osiris be returned to them as quickly as possible, as there was no surer salvation for their affairs than he. The priest promised that he would return, with the gods’ favor, along with any who had been exiled because of their partiality for Osiris. Furthermore, it seemed best that Typhon should be tolerated for a while and deceived. And he, because he was not immediately visited by the likely outcome—and the likely outcome would have been for the man most responsible for the Egyptians serving the Scythians for a time to be slaughtered as a propitiatory sacrifice for the war; and because Justice, being wise and knowing how to store up the right moment, had delayed him—thought that he was successfully deceiving the gods as well. C While still in the guise of tyranny, he collected money even more shamefully and strictly, so that he was again shaking down his own ministers, sometimes threatening that he would inflict some huge disaster upon them as far as he could, and at other times feigning humility and using a mournful speech to move them to pity: "Do not," he said, "let me fall from power." Such was the folly of the man, and so blinded was his mind, that he hoped to circumvent the high priest with flattery and money. But it was a sacrilege for him to place wealth and riches before the laws of the fathers. Indeed, he even urged the barbarians with all his might, and, having become a messenger to the furthest reaches of Thebes, brought them back again with gifts. Every act and maneuver of his was a bold proclamation that he was ready to hand over the Egyptians to the barbarians. D He was clearly, most of all, unafraid 47 himself, while he was amid his dearest Scythians; or if not, he was glad not to see Osiris return alive, even should he have been restored to power. Since, however, the barbarians clearly were not there to transform the Egyptians, as they had done before, but to... [Translator's Note: The text here becomes fragmentary where the Latin and Greek suggest an outcome of his eventual fate.]
A led the forces marching away and far removed from Thebes with messages, supplications, and gifts, and it was openly proclaimed that his deeds and designs were nothing else than the betraying of Egyptian affairs to the barbarians. It was evident that he, relying on the protection of the very friendly Scythians, was secure and free from all fear; or if not that, he was at least glad to make use of them, lest Osiris, being recalled from exile while he was alive, should again gain control of affairs. Wherefore, as the barbarians were bringing up an army, not to change what they had previously undertaken, but to overthrow the republic completely and administer it in the Scythian fashion, since—to speak in one word—the arrayed multitude of citizens was experiencing those things which are most difficult in both evils, I mean war and sedition: from sedition, domestic betrayals and machinations, which are less wont to happen in war; and from war, that it was a danger common to all. Since seditions themselves, while otherwise concerning the public salvation, merely attempt to transfer the principate from those who possess it to others; but at that time, when the worse elements of both had converged into one, there was truly no one among the Egyptians to whom the tyrant did not seem to be attempting and committing shameful acts; therefore, even the most abandoned men, whom common fear held in their duty, judged so. This very thing the gods had determined to await, so that no fuel for the opposing faction might be secretly nourished in the republic, which, even if it lacked a just, at least possessed an excusable pretext for the evil.
B At length, therefore, a council of gods and elders was convened against Typhon, and those things which had long since been rumored here and there in private were revealed: namely, women skilled in both languages, who disclosed their secret plans to those who were ignorant of them; from here to the Egyptian the things of the barbarian, and conversely to the other, the things of the first; and androgynes, and informers—all of their number whom Typhon, with his wife, had suborned against Osiris; and to whose work he had recently applied himself for the testing of the gravest proofs of wickedness: then, the occupations of opportune places, surrendered by him, and the bringing up of the siege itself, so that the sacred city was encircled on all sides by the gravest evils. To these things it was attempted with the utmost zeal that the Scythians should be ferried across to the other bank of the river, so that the Egyptian affairs might not be in the worst condition in only half the country, but that with all things being conquered on all sides, it might not be possible for them to seek out Osiris. When these things were detected with manifest proofs, by common consent he was condemned to prison, and it was ordained that what he ought to pay or suffer as a penalty should be decided C by another judgment. But the gods commended those who were present in the council.
D
DION, PETAVIUS' NOTES
(48) And *apographeis* (registrars). I would gladly read *hypographeis*, that is, those who paint and color the eyes and face, as if by mixing colors; for so he spoke for the act of painting the eyes, just as Xenophon in *Cyropaedia* says. And as to *apographeis*, let us see how conveniently it fits this place. And indeed that *apographe* in Demosthenes and Harpocration is clear, it signifies the description of goods, when one who is interrogated for embezzlement would report in the commentaries what he possessed and in whose name, or indeed absolutely for any census and description of goods. Hence *apographeus*, a descriptor, a censor. The Old Gloss also takes it for a denunciation: he says, "proscription," also in the proscriptions of the proscribed, they recorded goods in the tables. Hesychius also takes it for a denunciation; he says, "it signifies." Wherefore by this word in this place I understand informers, who would denounce the wealthier among the Egyptians and the supporters of Osiris to Typhon, and would reduce their goods into commentaries: unless you prefer amanuenses and clerks, who would take down the mandates of Typhon to the leader of the Scythians. [index: entries preserved]A
As for such as they, having pronounced the sentence upon him that was befitting, they decreed by common suffrage that Typhon himself, as soon as he should depart this life, should be delivered over to torments and cast into Cocytus, and finally, for the sake of the dire avengers of punishments, should be assigned to the race of Tartarean demons alongside the Titans and giants, so that he might not be able to behold the Elysian fields even in a dream, much less to look upwards and behold at any time the sacred light, in the contemplation of which the blessed souls and the happy gods find their delight.
4. Thus far concerning Typhon; for all these things are manifest. For what could be found in earthly nature that is sacred or secret? But the history of Osiris is celebrated in sacred discourses and mysteries, so that it is a dangerous thing to entrust it to any narratives. But as concerns his birth, his upbringing, his first rudiments, his disciplines, and his holier magistracies; and in what manner he was raised to the highest pinnacle of power in the assemblies of the gods and divine men, and how he attained to the same; and how a conspiracy was formed against him; and how long it persisted, without yet having a full and final outcome: these things, I say, are not unworthy of being mentioned, and have been related by us previously. To these let us add this also: that for this truly happy man, that exile was not useless. For in that whole time he was initiated into the most venerable mysteries of the celestial powers, and beheld the same; and having laid aside the care of the republic, he turned his mind to contemplation. Let his sacred return also be celebrated; and how the garlanded peoples, together with the gods, brought back the exile, and traversed the whole continent to meet him; in addition to this, the nocturnal vigils, the carrying of torches, the distribution of gifts, and the year that was named after him: and finally, how he granted pardon again to his most hostile brother, whom he rescued from the prayers of the raging populace, and besought the gods that they might save him: in which he showed himself more kind than just. B
5. Up to this point let us venture to speak concerning Osiris. But what follows hereafter, let it be kept in silence, as someone says who speaks cautiously and circumspectly of sacred matters. For what follows is a subject for a mind and tongue more bold to bring forth; which indeed should be kept secret and untouched in writings, lest one turn his eyes to those things to which it is not lawful C to turn them. For he who reveals these, as well as he who has seen them, incurs the offense of the divinity. And it is related in the accounts of the Boeotians that he who rashly breaks in and sees the orgies of Bacchus is suddenly torn to pieces. For ignorance adds authority to sacred things; for this reason mysteries are committed to the night, and inaccessible caverns are dug, and times and places are chosen that are suitable for concealing D the hidden and more secret sacred things. Perhaps it would be lawful to say this one thing: which we state in such a way that those things which are not profane may, as much as possible, be veiled—namely, that Osiris, regarding his elder rather than younger years, obtained more glory and splendor; and that he attained this as a reward from the gods, that he should preside over the republic under greater auspices, and appear more excellent and more divine than that men could affect him with any afflictions; and thus, the happiness which had been bestowed by him upon the Egyptians, and which he found extinguished and obliterated by the tyranny of Typhon, he not only restored, but rendered incomparable with the former by more brilliant increments; so that the former appeared to be merely the beginning and the sole promise of the future.
not only restored, but rendered incomparable with the former by more brilliant increments; so that the former appeared to be merely the beginning and the sole promise of the future. This, as has been frequently sung by the Greek poets, was a time in the past when that maiden who is now a constellation, and whom, I believe, they call Justice, A remained among the earthly shores, avoiding the sight of men—not because she fled the masculine, nor the feminine, race of ancient forefathers, but she had her dwelling-place everywhere, even though she was immortal: she used to share in the companionship of mankind. No one at that time knew bitter strife, Nor hateful contests of the forum, nor sad wars; They lived together: the sea was far away, Nor did disloyal ships bring provisions from afar; But yokes, and yoked oxen, and nurturing Justice herself Gave all things in abundance to men, a giver of righteous deeds. This was the state of affairs so long as the golden race was upon the earth.
He says that as long as they had no commerce with the sea, men were golden and enjoyed the communion of the gods. But as soon as ships were introduced for more laborious uses of life, Justice withdrew so far from human society that she can scarcely, or indeed not at all, be glimpsed on a bright night. And yet, even when seen, she holds out an ear of corn B to us, not a rudder; perhaps she might descend, and speak with us again in person, if we were to apply ourselves to agriculture and abandon navigation. Now, the things which the poets recount of her did not occur in any other time than under that more illustrious empire of Osiris. And although the gods did not, by immediately recalling him from his exile, entrust everything to his power, we should not for that reason think that anything else ought to have been done. For the nature of public affairs does not admit of a sudden change for the better, just as it does not for the worse. For vice is self-taught, but virtue is acquired with labor. Hence, it was necessary for some to lead the way who would purify the state, and for God to proceed gradually and in order: for Osiris, too, before he was involved in matters of state, had to both see many things and hear C many, since the ears of a king are hidden from most things.
6.
Indeed, we must be careful now, lest we utter what it is impious to bring forth. For us, may the sacred things themselves be propitious regarding the cause of those things which have been said thus far. But those things which have been done in the past regarding his brother, and which are carried out today, contain something admirable and worthy of diligent contemplation: namely, what is the reason why, when some singular nature…DION. PETAVIUS' NOTES
(49) "She used to be on the earth": Verses which are from the *Phenomena* of Aratus, which some Latin scholiast or other has wrongly interpreted. Following him, he says, "Aratus says that, when she was immortal, she lingered on the earth, and being accustomed to withdraw from the sight of men, she decided to play and associate with women." So much for him. But where on earth did Aratus say that Astraea fled the company of men and despised that of women? D Hence, a depraved passage in the *Satiricon* of Petronius should be tested in passing: for in that marvelous banquet, in which a serving dish was brought in having the signs arranged in a circle, and above (or perhaps "in addition to") which the builder had placed food appropriate and suitable to the subject matter, among other things, he says, over the virgin, "spiculum" [a small sting/spear]. But see whether "spicam" [a small ear of corn] ought to be read, that is, a small ear of corn.
(51) "Before he is at leisure": Ennodius Paneg. at Theod.: "But he who is prepared for the rudders of the world, it is necessary that he should come to all things..." Eustratius on Book VI of the *Ethics*: "The man who wishes to act rightly in a city must be very experienced, and see many things, and know each of the things that happen one by one."
(52) "When someone should be": Themist. Orat. 5: And someone rightly says of the poets of comedy that there is nothing good in life that is produced like a tree from a single root; "And always, indeed, evil has grown along with it." Nor could good things exist without bad, "But there is a certain mixing, so that it may be well."
sunt et hodie geruntur, quiddam habent admirabile ac diligenti contemplatione dignum: quid nimirum causæ sit, cur cum singularis aliqua natura A to vice, vice towards virtue, almost near it is planted and that which is contrary, unmixed, as if from one hearth they proceed, such things so removed, and a single root exists for these two offshoots. Let us ask Philosophy, then, what she will blame for this paradoxical thing. She will perhaps answer, having borrowed something from poetry, that, O man, B "For two urns stand upon the threshold of Zeus, of gifts, such as he gives, the one of evils, and the other of..." The most part, then, or at least with only a small distinction of equality, he is wont to pour out and mix both, so that there may be a symmetrical measure in nature. But whenever he pours out one portion insatiably, and a father becomes, in the first-born of his children, precisely fortunate or unfortunate, the remainder is precisely that which was left over. For God, the dispenser, will equalize the deficiency, since the expenditure of both urns must be the same, or because at the beginning there are equal seeds from both in the offspring, and in both they come to be by the reason of a common nature. But whenever, in any way having been separated, one spends one portion first, it has the remainder unmixed. Having said these things, she would persuade us, since we see in the fig-tree the fruit is most sweet, but leaves, and bark, and root, and trunk, all are most bitter. For it would seem that, whatever is worse in the nature of the tree, this it has exhausted entirely in those parts which are not edible, appearing to leave the best pure and refined in the fruits. For this reason the children of farmers (let us endure even poor images, if we are to do more for the reception of the truth)—those men, therefore, perhaps taught this by nature, plant foul-smelling things near sweet-smelling, and bitter near sweet, so that whatever of foul the earth has entwined, this, by a natural kinship, it draws toward itself, leaving only and unmixed in the better roots the juice and the better breath. And this is the method of cleaning a garden plot. C D 7. But from this argument, there emerges by way of a geometric corollary to another theorem, that the eldest of children are born the most wicked in the human race. And this becomes a cleansing in the kinship of seeds, whenever God prepares a birth of unpolluted and sincere virtue; and thus it turns out that what seems the most kindred, in reality is the most alien; which, indeed, in those who maintain the customary order of nature, does not easily happen—those, I mean, who are only half-good—but in others, nonetheless, who have exceeded the measure of nature.
DION. PETAVIUS' NOTES
(55) For two urns... See Maximus, serm. 35. (56) foul-smelling near sweet-smelling... garlic planted near roses will be more fragrant. See Didymus, lib. 11 Geop.A if this did not happen. This is enough regarding that matter. But another issue, circling back, demands a different type of inquiry. That the same events should happen often in different places and times, and that there should be viewers growing old who were listeners to those as boys, be it through books or tales from grandfathers—this seems to me the most B paradoxical thing of all; and if it is not destined to remain a paradox, it deserves to be provided with an explanation. Let us therefore state it, having found an appropriate starting point; for this is neither a minor nor an easy philosophical inquiry. We consider the cosmos as a whole, 56 being completed by its parts. We should therefore consider it flowing together and breathing together; for only in this way will it sustain itself, and we shall not consider its parts unsympathetic toward one another. For how could they be one, if they were not naturally linked? And it will both act and be acted upon by each other and toward each other; some things will only act, others will only be acted upon. With this hypothesis C as a position from which to advance our inquiry, we would logically attribute the cause of things down here to the blessed body that moves in a circle. For both are parts, and they have something in common. If then generation 57 exists in the things among us, the cause of generation lies in the things above us, and from there the seeds of occurring events reach down here. If one were to add to this, with astronomy providing the proofs, that the orbits of the stars and the spheres—some simple, others complex—are restorative, such a person would be partly Egyptian and partly Greek in his philosophy, and he would be a perfect sage, joining mind with knowledge. Such a person, therefore, would not despair D that because the same movements return, the effects also return with their causes, and that lives on earth may be the same as those of old, along with births, nourishments, dispositions, and fortunes. We would not wonder, then, if we see an ancient history come to life among us, and if we have witnessed that things which had already blossomed in the past fully conform to those that have blossomed in the following months, through the unfolding of the discourse; and that the forms hidden in the matter also conform to the mysteries of the myth. What these are, it is not yet permitted for me to declare; others might guess one thing or another, and people might pore over Egyptian writings out of a greedy desire for what is to come, whose ears the myth has sounded, dragging from thence an enigmatic resemblance to present things. But these do not harmonize with one another toward the truth; and let them know that they are not even acting piously in what they attempt, digging up beforehand that which ought to have remained buried for a time. For it was necessary, I think, as this entire cosmos is sympathetic and breathes together, for its parts to correspond to one another, as they happen to be limbs of one whole. And generation in the things above us is the cause of generation in the things among us; and the cause of generation in the things among us is generation in the things above us; for indeed the reasons, the forms, and the effluences of God remain in heaven and in the stars; but those things that are scattered in the passive realm—earth, sea, plants, and animals—are discussed, and perish, and are buried, and often flare up again and reappear through their generations.
A For the gods have hidden the life of men from them.
8. Pythagoras of Samos says that the wise man is nothing other than a spectator of things that are and come to be. For, he says, man has been introduced into the world as into a sacred contest, so that he might be a spectator of the things taking place there. From this, therefore, let us reason out what kind of composed and moderate spectator he ought to be: or rather, must we say openly what is obvious and exposed to everyone? Should he be the one who waits in his own place for the things that emerge in due order from behind the curtain to be exhibited one by one? But if someone should burst onto the stage—and, as the saying goes, peer into it with dog-like eyes—desiring to see the whole equipment of the proscenium at once, the judges of the games will arm the lictors against him; and even if he could secretly pry, he would learn nothing clearly, but would see everything only with difficulty, confused and indistinct. Yet there are some things in the theaters that the law requires to be announced beforehand, and someone must come out ahead of others to tell the crowd what they are about to see shortly. This man does not err; for he serves the director of the games, from whom he learned what he knows, not having probed to find out, nor having moved the immovable for that purpose; and having learned it, he must keep silence, until he is urged to make it public, since the law does not permit even the contestants themselves to know the time of the contest, but they must wait until the signal for going out is issued. Likewise, if knowledge of those things stored up by nature for life is imparted to anyone, such a one, having reverenced the honor for what it is worth, should nevertheless, or indeed even more than he who has never heard, keep silent. For he who is ignorant strives by conjecture to attain the truth of a matter; but what is probable, and conjectured, if it proceeds further, turns out most uncertain, and on this account various discussions are instituted; but the certain knowledge of truth is accompanied by a certain discourse. And yet the wise man will keep this in the dark, inasmuch as he has received it from God as a kind of deposit, especially since men hate those who discourse on divine things; he whom God himself has willed to be a mystic and initiated into sacred things, let him not leap in before the time, nor try to catch discourses by eavesdropping. For men hate those who mix themselves into the investigation of matters too curiously. Add to this that it is not right to be indignant for this reason—namely, because the man who follows shortly D is not allowed to see them.
they will be sure to obtain the same. Truly, for a brief time he attributes to each what is worthy, and finally the things themselves are presented as spectacles and riddles common to all, and A
The remaining days Are the wisest witnesses.
DIONYSII PETAVII NOTES. For when he had inquired who might be a prudent and moderate spectator, he added: "Am I to say that which is manifest to all?"
NOTICE CONCERNING THE FOLLOWING WORK.
The book *On Dreams*, a witness to marvelous acumen and genius, in discussing dreams and their origin and significance, skillfully sets forth the author's opinion concerning the gods, the human soul and its imagination, and the universe and the mutual interaction and connection of these things.
OF SYNESIUS A TREATISE ON DREAMS.
SYNESIUS BOOK ON DREAMS.
PREFACE.
B I believe it is a very ancient practice, and deeply Platonic, to hide what is serious in philosophy under the guise of a humbler subject, so that truths discovered with difficulty may neither be lost to mankind again, nor be defiled by being exposed to the profane masses. This, indeed, the present work strives to do as much as possible. Whether it has achieved this, and whether the other parts have been carefully elaborated in the ancient manner, those who rely on their own talent and industry may judge for themselves as they turn to its reading.
ON DREAMS.
C 1. If dreams are prophetic, and the visions presented to men in sleep offer riddles of events that are to happen in reality, they would indeed be wise, but they would not be clear. There is wisdom in them, even in their lack of clarity.